Category Archives: Marketing

I’ve been helping many of my clients lately figure out how to position themselves so they stand out in their marketplace or workplace like the true expert they are.

It can be quite a challenge, particularly when there are a lot of people who know much of what you know and do basically what you do.

The key to success though is having the right people recognize that YOU are the undisputed expert. The ‘right’ people include your boss, your prospects, your colleagues, your clients and your referral partners.

When any of those people see your true brilliance, your value goes up dramatically.

Here are some simple steps you can take to make yourself stand out, get seen and get recognized as an expert.

1. Know your audience
Resist the urge to try to be everything to everybody. Pick the people or groups you’re best suited to serve and focus on getting to know everything you can about them. Be particularly focused on the problems they encounter on a regular basis.

2. Speak their language
When you’re an expert, it’s easy to default to using jargon, technical or quasi-technical terms that perfectly capture the nuance of the issue for you and other ‘geeks’ like you, but may not resonate with the people you’re trying to help. Talk to them with words they use.

3. Know your strengths
It’s tempting to believe that you are multifaceted and brilliant in every dimension. You might even be brilliant in many dimensions, but being a jack- or jill-of-all trades will minimize the sense that you are an expert and lower the perceived value of your worth. Pick a few things you’re masterful at that you enjoy doing and focus on those.

4. Articulate your process
Whether you know it or not, you have a particular approach to solving problems. When you can explain it in simple terms, you’ll seem like more of an expert than people who don’t have their process spelled out and look like they’re ‘winging it’.

5. Understand their goals
When I attended coach training school over 15 years ago (how can that be?!?!), our coach and trainer would often say “People are always on their way someplace”. What he meant was that most people are working on some goal, whether it’s a short-term to-do, an errand, a duty of some sort, a project or a much longer-term aspiration. Unless they’re a couch potato, they’re trying to get somewhere even if their ‘where’ isn’t entirely clear to them.
We show up like some intrusion into their daily life and the things that fill it. When you help them see where ‘where’ is and position yourself as a key ingredient to getting there, you’ve just raised your value dramatically.

When you implement these 5 keys, you’ll stand out as an expert eligible and worthy of higher fees and bigger paychecks.

People often go in business for themselves because they have a special knack or interest in something. They soon realize however, that that knack is not the only thing they need to be a success.

There are many internal factors that influence how fast or how big a company will grow. If the owner doesn’t acknowledge and attend to those critical factors, they are setting their burgeoning enterprise up for potential failure or enduring mediocrity

The most critical factors often aren’t always obvious but I’m ready to share them with you right now to help you navigate the perils and enjoy the benefits of business ownership.

Here are 5 simple, yet critical concepts you MUST master if you are to experience the growth and profitability you desire.

1. Know your strengths and deficits – intimately
When you’re crystal clear about your skills, you can leverage them to move mountains. You can also use them to counterbalance your weaknesses. When you’re working in your blind spots, you’ll struggle to accomplish goals. You’ll try to do things you shouldn’t and fail to delegate profitably.

2. Work within your value system
The whole point of being in business for yourself is to more closely control your own destiny. Without a thorough assessment of what’s important to you, day-to-day and for the long haul, you rob yourself of bringing in experiences that will create the fulfillment you need. Once they’re clearly articulated, your chance for fulfillment increases dramatically.

3. Understand the marketspace you operate in
When you target the highest possible level of clientele for your product or service, your fees have room to expand. When you clearly distinguish yourself from the competition, people will seek YOU out. If you go to market blindly, you run the risk of stepping into a crowded space, missing out on opportunities to leverage your company’s unique advantages and not being prepared internally for growth.

4. Have a variety of sources of revenue
You’ve probably heard about the importance of diversifying your investments. Well, your business is one of the most important investments you own. While you can make a great living selling just one product or service, with more options, you’re likely to improve your revenue stream. During the recent recession, many businesses had to expand their offerings to appeal to additional markets. Even as the economy recovers, having various offers for various kinds of customers can help maintain your revenue stream. Just remember to not diversify to far afield. If that happens, you run the risk of spreading yourself too thin and becoming ineffective in your efforts.

5. Utilize your time in the most effective manner possible
It’s tempting to work on that which is easy, comfortable and familiar. Unfortunately, those kinds of activities rarely lead to outstanding results. “Magic occurs outside our comfort zone.” Work in your personal ‘sweet spots’, delegate the rest and focus on the highest profit potential activities possible.

These concepts are critical for your success. Implement them and practice them consistently. They will pave the road to profitability for your business

One of the biggest complaints I hear today is that people aren’t getting the recognition they deserve. Whether they are a corporate professional looking to move up the ranks in their career or a business owner looking to land more lucrative clients and contracts, they’re struggling to distinguish themselves in an authentic and profitable way.

Recently, I’ve honed in on what it takes to turn what I call “The Scorching Hot Sweet Spot™” in your career or business into cold, hard cash! Once you’ve mastered that process, you’ll attract better clients, gain more recognition in the office, feel way more confident, set yourself apart from the herd, stop worrying about the competition and earn more money.

It’s a simple model. Think back to your high school algebra or logic class to the phrase “Venn Diagram”. The Scorching Hot Sweet Spot is at the intersection of 3 concepts:

Your expertise and passions
It’s critical you know what you’re really good at and it’s likely that you don’t. If you’re like most people, you undervalue what you know. When something somes naturally to you, it’s easy to assume that everyone is good at it too. Nothing could be stronger from the truth.

Take a trip down memory lane and ask yourself what you loved to do as a child or teenager. Recall the kinds of things people have asked your advice on over the years. When you’re clear about your expertise and focus your business or career around the expression of that expertise, you’ll be effective and experience less struggle. Work will feel graceful and full of ease. If you aren’t aware of and don’t effectively market the value of your skills, you’ll sound like everyone else when competing for clients or jobs. You’ll seem like a commodity and be easily replaced by someone with a lower bid.

When you focus on what you’re passionate about, you’ll also experience a feeling of fulfillment and joy. Time will fly by because you’re doing what you love.

Your customers’ needs
People will pay good money to someone who is perceived as being someone who can help them solve their most urgent issues. You have to know what keeps them awake at night and how your ‘magic’ will let them rest more peacefully. If you aren’t aware of their problems, your marketing messages to them will sound like that Charlie Brown teacher “Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah”. They don’t care how cool your process is. They only care about their pain and getting rid of it.

Your offer, well-timed
You must have a specific methodology you use to help solve those problems. That’s your “offer”. Having a trademark system in place gives you more credibility and positions you as an expert. Even if you’re an employee, you probably have a certain way you go about solving problems. When you can describe and name your process, it’s value goes up. It’s one of the steps I take my clients through in my VIP “Monetize Your Niche” and “Be Dream Job Ready” private consulting days.

The second component of this is the ‘well-timed’ part. You could have the most compelling solution but if it fixes a problem they’re not having now, you likely won’t get the sale. You must learn to recognize the buying signals that foretell a prospect is ready to take action.

When you clarify these three concepts and implement new activities in your business, you’ll be on the way to pushing more cash in the bank!

Have you been wondering what it takes to grow your business at a rate faster than the market?

Many business owners keep their head to the grindstone. They work hard at their craft and delight in serving their customers. Unfortunately, all that work takes time away from building the business in time-effective ways.

Sure, you go to networking events, make phone calls (you do make calls, don’t you?), maybe advertise in certain places or encourage people to make referrals on your behalf.

Still, not enough profit in the bank account leaves you feeling exhausted, confused and frustrated.

“What’s a body to do?”, you ask.

In my more-than-a-decade of helping business owners improve their situations, I’ve discovered that it takes 3 things to rise above the herd and outpace the market in terms of industry sales in your category.

1. A killer niche
Without a clear niche, you’ll likely never make any headway in your industry. People will struggle to understand what you do and won’t know why they should work with you versus any other provider of … (you fill in the blank).

You will likely struggle yourself positioning yourself against the competition. Your lack of clarity will keep your confidence level suppressed resulting in timidity.

Your message to the market will be muddled. No one will hear you. No money will flow to you. Sales will come through a lot of hard work.

2. Pricing that maximizes your profits
When you’re crystal clear about who you serve and how, your next challenge is packaging your products and services to garner the highest levels of profitability for your firm. You may struggle with this by doubting your ‘deservability’ factor hearing a little voice in your head shouting ‘Who do you think you are?!?!?”

That doubt will cause you to leave money on the table. Your niche clarity will make you appeal to people who are ready to work with you. When you understand their issues and have solutions for their problems, THEY will place a high value on your work and happily pay you for it.

3. A business plan to monetize the first two
Many a business owner, even those who know who they are and what they’re worth, have floundered because they lack insight on what it takes to take a product or service to market. Let’s face it, you have to do some sort of marketing in order to gain the visibility you need to land clients. They won’t just fall in your lap becuase you’re a good person. You must have a proactive plan that includes goals and action steps to achieve them. The Bamboo Approach to Lush Business Growth lays out a framework to making your mark on the world.

Once you have these three elements in place, the world becomes your oyster. Life and business success become attainable. For those of you who are ready to take a significant leap on any of these 3 elements, visit emeraldharvest.com/vipday.htm or apply for a Profit Proliferation strategy session with me at emeraldharvest.com/profitapplication.htm.

Most business owners resist the thought of honing in on a tight target market. They fear they’ll be missing out on potential sales if they don’t go after every possible sale that could be had.

And with the current state of the economy, they feel particularly justified in doing just that.

The problem though is that when you go after everything, you water down your marketing efforts. It’s like trying to paint a fine masterpiece for your living room with a spray paint can.

People don’t know who you are and what you specialize in.

Before I dive into the tips for today, I want to clarify a few terms. I’m often asked, “What’s the difference between a target market, an ideal client and a niche?”

According to Entrepreneur magazine, a target market is “a specific group of consumers at which a company aims its products and services.” An example of this might be ‘women business owners’.

Your ideal client is a subset of your target market, perhaps defined by demographic and psychographic data. An example might be women business owners over 40 years old in professional service industries, particularly those that require licensure from an industry or professional board or certification process who are looking to increase the revenue coming into their companies.

Your niche is a combination of 3 things:
1) The people you serve
2) The situationally specific problem you help them solve
3) Your specially branded Signature System that provides the solution to their problem.

When you’re clear about who you are best suited to serve, you’re able to get inside their head, understand their worries and concerns. You’ll know what they crave and yearn for. You’ll have the confidence to talk with them clearly and concisely about how you are uniquely suited to help them navigate their way throught their challenges to their desired outcome.

Here are 3 easy steps to get started.1) Get clear on why your clients need you (and it’s probably not for the reasons you think).
Without this clarity, your marketing will sound like the teacher in the Charlie Brown cartoon movies, “Wah wah wah wah wah wah wah”. No one will hear you above the noise and you’ll really miss out on earning what you’re truly capable of. When you have it nailed, people will flock to you because your marketing will be extraordinarily focused on JUST THE RIGHT PEOPLE.

2) Come up with a “platform” that distinguishes you from everyone else who does what you do.
Let’s face it, there are tons of graphic designers, financial advisors, attorneys, insurance agents, mortgage brokers, realtors, business coaches, professional organizers. you need more than a nice business card and a catchy tag line to set yourself apart. When you are trapped by being viewed as a commodity, you’ll never be able to rise above the herd; you’ll struggle with raising your prices and run yourself ragged trying to ‘reel in’ that next customer.

When you find your voice, it will pierce through the marketplace din to be heard by the people who most need what you have to offer. They’ll seek you out, already being sold on your service. Referrals will flow to you more swiftly because people who don’t even need you will recommend you to their friends and colleagues.

3) Make a choice of a niche that is crystal clear and easy to communicate.
Building on the first two points, when you know who you serve and how you specifically help them, you can be WAY more confident (but not pushy) when you speak with prospects. Your marketing will sound like you’re ‘playing their song’ and will draw them to you and position you as the best possible solution to their problem. If you falter on this step, you’ll remain one of the ‘also ran’s, working hard to close deals and wondering why you’re having such a hard time.

I want you make sure this doesn’t happen to you! If you know this would make a difference for you, grab this free training I did over the weekend and/or join us for the upcoming Niche Breakthrough Secrets program where I’ll help you finally step into the spotlight with a unique message that makes your marketing compelling and allows you to market less and still fill your practice or programs with the perfect people for your business.